The present invention relates to improvements in so-called bottle unscramblers of the type shown for example in U.S. Pat. No. 4,655,338 issued Apr. 7, 1987, entitled, BOTTLE UNSCRAMBLER, owned by the Assignee of the present invention. The apparatus and system are used in high speed automated systems for cleaning, filling and sealing containers for products such as medicaments and the like. As shown in the '338 patent, the unscrambler system and apparatus comprise a first orienting section wherein plastic bottles are delivered in random fashion to a pre-orientor bowl assembly which sorts and orients the bottles in either a top up or top down single column attitude for delivery through a discharge chute to a so-called rotary pocket assembly which positions the bottles with discharge opening facing up so that the containers can be filled at a filling station downstream of the rotary pocket assembly.
The preorientor bowl assembly comprises a sorter disc mounted in the bowl assembly of a predetermined diameter less than the internal diameter of the cylindrical sidewall of the bowl assembly to define a circumferentially extending channel for orienting the containers or bottles into a single column with top up or top down attitude as described above. Rotation of the sorter disc produces a steady flow of bottles in the channel to deliver them in the top up or top down orientation. For proper operation of the preorientation process, the channel specification has to be adjusted for different sized containers. Accordingly, sorter discs of different diameters and configurations are needed to accommodate bottles of different sizes and shapes. In other words, each sorter disc is of a specific diameter and has a predetermined spacer to provide a proper channel configuration for a given sized container.
As shown in the '338 patent, the preorientor bowl assembly is at some height above the floor or conveyor supporting surface requiring a ladder to access the interior of the bowl assembly to change from one disc to another when the size or shape of the container being processed is changed. This, of course, is time consuming and expensive. Further, these discs are rather heavy and therefore difficult to manipulate to make the requisite change when running a new type of container. It has also been found that some containers deviate from specification sufficiently so that the particular disc for that size container is not suitable to provide the channel configuration needed to process the slightly out of specification containers.
In some other systems, complicated and hard to activate linkages are utilized which interfere with the normal tumbling action in the drum. Further, in these systems, actuators are located in the drum and are not accessible from ground level. Additionally, the actuators require great force to operate and in some instances jam or freeze.
Accordingly, even though these prior systems are generally useful for the purposes intended, they have certain disadvantages and drawbacks which the present invention seeks to overcome.